Psychiatrische Praxis
Volume 36, Issue 6, 2009, Pages 286-292

How are religiosity, psychological distress and integration interrelated? A comparative study of the religiosity in Turkish /Kurdish migrants in comparison to Germans [Wie hängen religiosität, psychische symptombelastung und integration zusammen? Eine vergleichende betrachtung der religiosität bei türkischen/ kurdischen migranten gegenüber Deutschen] (Article)

Tagay S.* , Düllmann S. , Brähler E. , Stecker A. , Senf W.
  • a Klinik für Psychosomatische Medizin und Psychotherapie, LVR-Klinikum Essen/Institut, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Germany
  • b Klinik für Psychosomatische Medizin und Psychotherapie, LVR-Klinikum Essen/Institut, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Germany
  • c Selbstständige Abteilung für Medizinische Psychologie und Medizinische Soziologie, Universität Leipzig, Germany
  • d Klinik für Psychosomatische Medizin und Psychotherapie, LVR-Klinikum Essen/Institut, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Germany
  • e Klinik für Psychosomatische Medizin und Psychotherapie, LVR-Klinikum Essen/Institut, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Germany

Abstract

Objective The current study aimed to assess the association between religious involvement, psychological distress and various aspects of integration in a population of Turkish/Kurdish migrants in primary care. Methods We compared the group of Turkish/Kurdish migrants (n=179, age m=39.4 years, 65.0% female) with German dermatological patients (n=184, age m=43.1 years, 60.9% female) with regard to their religiosity. Results On average the migrants lived in Germany for 24.98 years (SD=8.90). Compared to the German patients, they showed higher religious involvement and participation. The migrants were highly significant more religious (p<0.001) than the German patients. Contrary to expectation, no significant correlations between measures of religiosity and psychological distress were found for the Turkish migrant group. Further, inverse relationships between measures of religiosity and measures of integration resulted. Migrants who were more acculturated showed less religiosity. Conclusions The religious affiliation of the examined group was islamic. It remains open if the inverse association between religiosity and integration would be the same also for other religions. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart - New York.

Author Keywords

Psychological distress Migration religiosity Integration

Index Keywords

anxiety Germany depression immigrant primary medical care Islam interpersonal communication Social Identification human middle aged Ethnic Groups controlled study Turkey (republic) comparative study Christianity Aged religion Young Adult Humans Adolescent male Emigrants and Immigrants Acculturation female Personality Inventory Religion and Psychology questionnaire Psychometrics psychometry Article major clinical study adult Turkey distress syndrome disease association Multilingualism social behavior
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-70449083168&doi=10.1055%2fs-0029-1220340&partnerID=40&md5=1c69c97141a6b20e8769f802cee638fa
DOI: 10.1055/s-0029-1220340
ISSN: 03034259
Cited by: 6
Original Language: German